The Mexican delegation that visited Sylmar Juvenile Hall on Wednesday came from Tijuana, a city that--like Los Angeles--must contend with social problems that originated elsewhere. An economic boom in the border region has doubled Tijuana's population to about 2 million over the past decade. But, combined with the continuing massive influx of emigrants bound for the United States, growth has also produced a small army of street children--an estimated 8,000 homeless youths from all over Mexico.

In a move that already has stirred controversy among local civil libertarians, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca confirmed Friday that he wants to name former California Supreme Court Justice Armand Arabian as the first inspector general of the county's sprawling and deeply troubled jail system. According to the new sheriff, Arabian, currently a defense lawyer and a "rent-a-judge" in private practice in the San Fernando Valley, approached him and expressed an interest in the watchdog position.

In a move that already has stirred controversy among local civil libertarians, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca confirmed Friday that he wants to name former California Supreme Court Justice Armand Arabian as the first inspector general of the county's sprawling and deeply troubled jail system. According to the new sheriff, Arabian, currently a defense lawyer and a "rent-a-judge" in private practice in the San Fernando Valley, approached him and expressed an interest in the watchdog position.

The Mexican delegation that visited Sylmar Juvenile Hall on Wednesday came from Tijuana, a city that--like Los Angeles--must contend with social problems that originated elsewhere. An economic boom in the border region has doubled Tijuana's population to about 2 million over the past decade. But, combined with the continuing massive influx of emigrants bound for the United States, growth has also produced a small army of street children--an estimated 8,000 homeless youths from all over Mexico.

Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday postponed a decision on whether to sue to block state construction of a prison in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley. Supervisor Mike Antonovich-- who represents the Antelope Valley and requested the lawsuit--and Supervisor Deane Dana suggested that state prison officials consider state-owned land in remote Hungry Valley, east of Golden State Freeway north of Gorman, for the prison.

The long-dormant fight over building a prison near downtown Los Angeles suddenly flared back to life Tuesday after the Assembly moved to eliminate money for the prison from the next state budget. The move, if successful, would also endanger a prison proposed for construction near Lancaster, because the two were tied together by 1987 legislation authorizing their construction. Under the legislation, one prison cannot be built without the other.

Legislation sailed through the state Assembly on Thursday that would kill funds for a long-sought but bitterly resisted 1,400-bed prison on the eastern edge of downtown Los Angeles. The measure, which was sent to the Senate on a 75-0 vote, also would clear the way for the immediate opening of a nearly finished 2,200-bed prison in Lancaster, as long as funds can be found to open its doors.

With their Friday budget agreement, Gov. George Deukmejian and legislative leaders patched together a government they had been threatening to tear apart for 27 days. As in so many years past, what made it happen had less to do with hospitals, hungry children and a functioning court system than ego, party image and a whiff of what history might say if they failed. As in so many other years, they also did it the easy way. They raised some fees and cut some programs.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, battling to retain his seat after being forced into a November runoff, on Tuesday racked up a real constituent-pleaser by placing Los Angeles County in strong opposition to construction of a new state prison in the Lancaster area of his district.

Gov. George Deukmejian on Wednesday publicly scoffed at suggestions by some lawmakers that the state build two prisons in Los Angeles County--the one the governor has already proposed for Los Angeles' heavily Latino Eastside and another in a rural, Republican area of the county.

A proposal in the state Legislature to shift a planned state prison from downtown Los Angeles to Camarillo State Hospital threatens to jeopardize a painstakingly negotiated bipartisan deal to build prisons in Los Angeles and Lancaster. Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), whose district includes Camarillo, charged that the proposal, an amendment to a prison construction bill, was a politically motivated attack on him. McClintock angrily accused the amendment's author, Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles)

With a steady rise in the number of felons and growing resistance to new prisons among urban dwellers, the Deukmejian Administration has decided to look to California's sparsely populated rural areas as the best location for new state penitentiaries. Officials of the Department of Corrections on Wednesday cited the governor's prolonged battle to locate a prison in Los Angeles County as good reason to target rural communities that want prisons, rather than those that will fight to keep them out.